March 16, 2020
To All Mather Hospital Staff/Team Members,
These are challenging and unprecedented times in health care. The goal is to keep our patients, staff and communities safe and stop the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Here are some of the things Mather and Northwell have put into place to achieve our goal:
– The hospital has established a surge response plan should our patient volume increase rapidly.
– We’ve limited visiting hours to 4-7pm daily, except for the behavioral health units, and all visitors now need to wear procedural masks. There is to be only one visitor per patient per day.
– We have suspended both the adult and junior volunteer programs.
– Every staff member, regardless of whether they have contact with patients, is required to wear a procedural mask at all times in the hospital and in all ambulatory locations where patients may be present.
– We will continue to assign staff to work remotely, limiting the amount of face-to-face interactions. We encourage all staff to limit their activities that involve large numbers of people.
– We continue to monitor supply levels and keep Northwell informed. We have increased supply levels of high usage items.
– We have ordered a portable trailer which will be delivered this week and may be used as triage, if needed.
– We have formalized team assignments that rotate administration/physicians/nursing teams so that there is always a team working remotely.
– As schools have closed, we are working with Northwell on childcare alternatives for our staff.
– Our Employee Health has implemented CDC employee screening guidelines.
– We have cancelled all elective surgeries. Urgent and emergency patients will continue to be operated on. These actions are designed to save staff, supplies and equipment in the event of increased COVID-19 activities.
To be informed about updates on the latest developments at Northwell, sign up for their text messages by texting NWCV to 333-111. You can also get information at northwell.edu/prepared and on Mather’s intranet under Quick Links (in the right column).
Should you have any questions or suggestions how we can better manage through this crisis, please speak to your supervisor, director or send an email to matherhospital@northwell.edu.
While we have not had any patients test positive for COVID-19, we appreciate everyone’s cooperation as we prepare for anticipated increases of this new virus in the communities we serve.
Thank you.
Kenneth Roberts
President, Mather Hospital